Swivel-up dispensing packages are typically employed for dispensing and applying cream antiperspirant compositions. Known swivel-up dispensing packages include a composition chamber, an applicator surface, a turn wheel that drives a feed screw, and an elevator threadably engaged with the feed screw, which applies pressure to the composition as it is advanced towards the applicator surface. Weeping onto the applicator surface following a normal dispensing and application event can however be an undesirable side effect of this type of dispensing package. Residual pressure within the composition remaining in the package chamber can cause the composition to weep onto the applicator surface for a period of time. U.S. Pat. No. 5,000,356 discloses a solution to weeping. The '356 patent teaches a packaging system that intermittently retracts the elevator a suitable distance following the dispensing of a discrete amount of the antiperspirant composition so that the residual pressure is relieved, thereby limiting or eliminating the weeping issue.
One of the embodiments disclosed in the '356 patent utilizes a turn wheel with an integrally formed spring that flexes to permit axial displacement of the feed screw and engaged elevator during dispensing. When the dispensing is completed, the spring, utilizing its potential energy, retracts the feed screw and elevator away from the applicator surface to relieve the residual pressure within the volume of un-dispensed composition.
The Procter & Gamble Company has manufactured dispensing packages in accordance with the foregoing approach for a number of years. The commercial packages utilized a one-piece turn wheel and feed screw made from an acetal resin. This is also the material disclosed in the '356 patent in connection with the above-described embodiment. The flexural modulus of acetal is sufficient to provide the retraction necessary to substantially prevent weeping. Employing acetal to manufacture a one-piece turn wheel and feed screw is acceptable for typical antiperspirant actives, but unfortunately, acetal can be susceptible to acid degradation when certain high efficacy actives are used in the antiperspirant composition. The high efficacy actives can produce a significant amount of hydrochloric acid (HCl) in the presence of water/moisture, and this acid can, in turn, degrade the screw to the point of inoperativeness. The '356 patent discloses the use of polypropylene in connection with alternative embodiments. Polypropylene is sufficiently resistant to HCL such that it would be suitable for manufacturing the feed screw. However, in a one-piece design where the turn wheel and feed screw are manufactured from the same resin, the polypropylene would be unacceptable since it possesses too low of a flexural modulus to retract the feed screw and elevator sufficiently to relieve the internal pressure necessary to sufficiently limit or prevent weeping. The present invention provides dispensing package designs that are capable of both dispensing antiperspirant compositions containing high efficacy actives and limiting or eliminating weeping.